Iranian Musical Instruments

Persian musical instruments or Iranian musical instruments
can be broadly classified into three categories: classical, Western and folk. Most of Persian musical instruments spread in the former Persian Empires states all over the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia and through adaptation, relations, and trade, in Europe and far regions of Asia. In ancient era, the Silk road had an effective role in this distribution.

String instruments

Orchestral
*Tar
*Setar
*Kamancheh
*Ghaychak
* Barbat
*Chang (instrument)/Angular harp
*Santoor
* Qānūn
* Shurangiz

Safavid-style portrait, female musician plays a tar.jpg, Tar
Woman with a setar, Safavid Iran, Isfahan (ca. 1600-1610).jpg, Setar, ca. 1610
A court musician playing the kemanche, painting by Abul Qasim, Qajar Iran.jpg, Kamancheh
Woman playing a santur, Qajar Iran, artist named Ahmad.jpg, Woman playing a santur, 19th century
File:Ralamb-89.jpg, Qanun, from Rålamb Costume Book, 1657

Folklore
*Dotar
*Tanbur
*Tar (Azerbaijani instrument)
* Divan (diwan or divan sazı, type of Bağlama)
*Sallaneh
*Sorahi
* Suroz
*Rubab (instrument)

Jean-Paul Flandrin - Odalisque with Slave - cropped to show dutar.jpg, Dotar (2 courses of strings)

Wind instruments

Orchestral
*Ney
Folklores
*Balaban (instrument)
*Donali
*Doudouk
*Dozaleh
*Garmon
*Karna
*Ney-anbān
*Sorna

Historical
*Nafir

File:Qajar Iran scene with women playing ney, tar and dancing.jpg, 19th century C.E. Qajar Iran scene with women playing ney (flute), tar (lute) and dancing.

Percussion instruments

While Arabic and Persian are separate languages, to a great extent the cultures intermixed during and after the Arab conquest of Persia. Arabic became the lingua franca from the Middle East to the edge of China and into India, much as Latin was in Europe. As a result, the list below may contain Arab words that don't belong, but may also include words shared by both languages. An example is ''daf'' (دایره), for which the Arab word is also ''daf'' or ''duff'' (plural ''dofuf'). Similarly, conquests and cultural intermixing have made Turkish words available, such as kudum.

File:Persian woman playing the Daf, from a painting on the walls of Chehel-sotoon palace, Isfahan, 17th century.jpg, Persian woman playing the Daf, from a painting on the walls of Chehel-sotoon palace, Isfahan, 17th century
File:Persian miniature of Woman with Daf in Qajar Iran, 19th century.jpg, Persian miniature of Woman with frame drum in Qajar Iran, 19th century. Possibly a daf; the red and white circles are links of chain attached to the inner edge of the drum.
File: Dancing girl percian hermitage.jpg, Woman playing Kastan (کاستانیـِت), or possibly ghashoghak or zills.
File:Woman with Zarb drum, Qajar Iran,19th century.jpg, Woman with Zarb drum, Qajar Iran,19th century
File:Woman playing drums, Qajar Iran, 19th century.jpg, Woman playing drums, Qajar Iran, 19th century
File:Woman playing Dayereh-zangi (دایره‌زنگی) or tambourine, ca 1820.jpg, Woman playing Dayereh-zangi (دایره‌زنگی) or tambourine, ca 1820

Membranophones

Idiophones

Shaken idiophones

Lamellophones

Images from Turkestan

These images are from the Russian Turkestan, circa 1865-1872, an area in which Persian, Turkish, Arab/Islamic and Mongol peoples conquered and settled over the ages. When the Russians conquered, both Turkish and Persian languages were being spoken. The images of musical instruments show the mixing of cultures; some such as the ''tanbur'' appear normal for Persian culture. But there are variations, such as a ''kamanche'' that appears to be a bowed ''tanbur'', and the ''kauz'' or ''kobyz'', which is a Turkish word for an instrument that is closely related to the ''Ghaychak'', a Persian instrument.

File:Pastimes of Central Asians. Musicians. A Man Playing a Surnay, a Small Flute-like Instrument WDL10822.png, Russian Turkestan, about 1872. Dozaleh or "koshnai"
File:Dayra player.jpeg, Dayra
File:Troupe of Musicians. A Woman Holding a Dayra, or Frame Drum WDL11114.png, Dayereh
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. A Man Playing a Koshnai, a Clarinet-like Instrument WDL10768.png, Sorna.
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. Musicians. A Man Playing a Karnay, a Long-necked Trumpet-like Instrument WDL10827.png, Karnay
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Kauz, a Small Two-Stringed Instrument with a Bow WDL10823.png, Kauz or Kobyz. Also spelled ''qobuz''.
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. A Man Playing a Nagara, a Double-Headed Folk Drum WDL10772.png, Nagara
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. A Man Playing a Dutar, a Long-Necked Fretted Lute WDL10767.png, Dutar
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Gydzhak, a Stringed Instrument WDL10821.png, Gydzhak. Instrument in the Kamanche tradition. Not a Ghaychak; the name variation applied to two different fiddles.
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Nai, a Flute-like Instrument WDL10825.png, The ''nai'' in Turkestan was side-blown, like the flutes in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Karakalpakstan.
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Rubab, a Fretted Lute-like Instrument WDL10826.png, Rubab
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Tambur, a Long-necked Stringed Instrument WDL10828.png, Tanbur
File:Pastimes of Central Asians. Musicians. A Man Practicing the Kamancha, a Long-necked Stringed Instrument WDL10824.png, The "Mashki" Kamanche, possibly related to the sato
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. Various Musical Instruments, Including a Koshnai WDL10771.png, from left: nagaras, sorna, unknown reed-tipped pipe, ghoshmeh, tas
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. Various Musical Instruments, Including a Dutar, a Long-Necked Fretted Lute WDL10769.png, From left: dutar, kauz or kobyz, frame drum with drumstick, karnay, ney (horizontal variation, above drum).
File:Musical Instruments and Musicians. Stringed Instruments and a Frame Drum WDL10770.png, From left: dutar, rubab, daf (above rubab), gydzhak, mashki kamanche.

File:Syr Darya Oblast. City of Tashkent and the Types of People Seen on Its Streets. A Dervish Playing an Instrument WDL10952.png, Ney, end-blown flute

File:Women's Customs Among the Tajiks- Fortune-Telling WDL2516.png, Tajik women, "fortune telling", one with a daf
File:Women's Customs among the Tajiks. Group of Young Women, Sitting Together with Their Arms around Each Other and Their Eyes Closed. One Woman Holds a Drum WDL11183.png, Tajik women, one daf
File:Folk Festival at Kurban Bayram in Tashkent. Pastimes at the Tea Stand WDL10776.png,
File:Troupe of Musicians. Group of Musicians and a Batcha, or Dancing Boy WDL11112.png, From left: unknown reed-tipped pipe, nagaras, sorna, sorna, daf, tas, qairaqs.

Others

The electronic keyboard is a popular western instrument.

There are numerous native musical instruments used in folk music.

See also

* Music of Iran
* Persian traditional music

References

*Abbas Aryanpur and Manoochehr Aryanpur, ''The Concise Persian-English Dictionary'', Amir Kabir Publication Organization, Tehran, 1990.
*David R. Courtney, ''Fundamentals of Tabla'', Vol. I, Sur Sangeet Services, Houston, 1998.
* Michael Kennedy, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'', Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1980.
*Mehran Poor Mandan, ''The Encyclopedia of Iranian Old Music'', Tehran, 2000.
*Cemsid Salehpur, ''Türkçe Farsça Genel Sözlügü'', Tehran, 1996.
*Mehdi Setayeshgar, ''Vazhe-Name-ye-Musighi-ye-Iran Zamin'', Tehran, Vol. I (1995) & Vol. II (1996).

External links

Introduction to Iranian Indigenous and Local Musical Instruments
by Kamran Komeylizadeh

{{Musical radif

Musical instruments